How to Choose a Day Trading Chat Room

One of the best ways to improve as a trader is to learn from other traders who have done it before. Learning from the experience of others can save you a lot of time and money. This is the reason many people hire consultants in their lines of work. Experience teaches lessons that other education cannot. One of the most effective ways to learn from other traders is by seeing their trading process live.

Day trading chat rooms are online chat rooms where traders discuss their trading activity. Some chat rooms are text only while others include audio and video components. There are plenty of trading chat rooms to choose one and, while some are better than others, there is no “one-size-fits-all” option. The quality of a chat room is dictated by both the chat room itself and your own personal needs. If you’re a swing trader in a day trading chat room, you won’t have much luck (and vice versa). So, what exactly should you look for?

Best Day Trading Chat Rooms

While there is no universal option, there are a few things you should consider before joining a chat room.

Trading Style

First things first, you need to find a trading chat room that is a good match for your trading style. Some good things to consider are:

Your Trading Style (if already defined)

Your Availability

Your Account Size

Your Core Competencies (i.e. technical vs. fundamental analysis)

It’s important that you understand how traders in the chat room approach the market. Are they looking to scalp a few cents at a time? Do they hold positions for minutes/hours/days?

For example, if you have $2,000 in your account and traders are scalping $0.10 moves, you probably won’t have much luck. Similarly, if you join a momentum trading chat room but work a full-time job during market hours, you may struggle to find success.

Chat Room Members

A chat room is only as good as the traders running it. Furthermore, the head traders in the chat room need to be able to provide actionable information. Trading a $0.20 scalp may not help other traders whereas trading a $2-3 move may.

Here are some things to be aware of:

Number of Head Traders/Moderators – If a chat room has a single head trader, you are relying on a single trader to get you the information you need to make trading decisions. While this may keep things simple, it can also be limiting.

Small Chat Rooms – There can be power in numbers. Theoretically, more traders in a chat room means more potential opportunities. If you create your own chat room with your trading group, that’s one thing, but if you are paying for a service, you may want access to a bigger community.

New Chat Rooms – It’s relatively easy to launch an online chat service nowadays. Beware of traders who’ve had a bit of success and launch their own service immediately. You want to trade alongside traders who have stood the test of time. Many chat rooms have come and gone over the years.

Alert Style

There are two basic styles of trading alerts:

Trade Alert

Information Alert

An example of a trade alert would be “Buy 100 shares of stock $XYZ at $50.40.”

Trade Alert Example

An example of an information alert would be, “Citron hit piece out on stock $XYZ.”

Information Alert Example

Both alert styles have their pros and cons. A trade alert is simple and easy to understand but can encourage traders to copy the trade. In reality, it’s impossible to replicate someone else’s trades because you won’t get the same executions nor will you have the agility to pivot when necessary. That said, you can learn a lot from these alerts by looking at why the trader initiated the trade.

Information alerts allow you to put together your own plan. For example, you get an alert that a company announced a deal with Amazon and decide to buy into the initial momentum for a quick scalp trade. Another trader may see the same alert and decide to short the backside of the move if the price action is irrational. Information alerts also help you stay on top of different trade ideas. You can only watch so many stocks so it can be helpful to have other traders alert different ideas.

Chat Room Noise

A chat room should be considered a trading tool and, like any tool, you want it to run efficiently. Chat rooms are not supposed to double as tools like Twitter or StockTwits. Think of chat rooms like stock market scanners. Scanners (when set up properly) only deliver actionable alerts, meaning you don’t need to wade your way through useless messages to get the information you need.

It is recommended that you find a chat room with minimal off-topic chatter (noise).

Many chat rooms are littered with messages consisting of beginner questions, random conversations, and other irrelevant messages. While it may be nice to have your questions answered during the trading day, think about what happens when every trader in the room starts asking questions.

If you are a newer trader who has questions during the day, reach out to the chat room service and ask about the best way to get the support you need. Some services will offer “off-topic” chat rooms or provide support via private messages.

Chat Room Cost

Cost is a big factor when choosing a day trading chat room. There are two things you need to consider:

Your Budget

Chat Room Value

First, you need to decide how much you are willing to spend. If you have $3,000 in your trading account, it may not make sense to pay $2,000 for yearly access to a specific chat room. There are plenty of different rooms in different price ranges.

The second thing you need to consider is chat room value. Like most products and services, there are a variety of pricing options. That said, not all of the options are created equal. A $500 computer may not have the same computing power as the $2,000 option. Similarly, a $25 chat room may not have the same value as a $200 chat room.

This isn’t to say price is correlated with value, but you shouldn’t allow price to be the main factor. Look for the best value vs. the best price. If you’re looking to save more money, many chat rooms offer discounts on quarterly and annual options, but make sure you know what you’re getting into before committing to the longer timeframe.

Chat Room Technology

The last consideration is chat room technology. While this may not seem like a big deal initially, it can have an impact on the value you get out of the room. If a chat room is slow and buggy, it will be hard to use. If a chat room doesn’t have a mobile option and you trade from your phone (not recommended), you will have issues as well.

Some chat rooms will also have advanced features built-in, such as ticker tagging, stock charts, outside news alerts, video streaming, etc.

About The Author

Dave has been a part-time day trader and swing trader since 2011 when he first became obsessed with the markets. He focuses primarily on technical setups and will hold positions anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. Over his trading career, Dave has tried numerous day trading products, brokers, services, and courses. He continues to test and review new day trading services to this day.